The Case of the Library Monster (8 page)

“Hi, Buddy,” she says. She’s smiling with her mouth, but not her eyes.

“Look what I brought.” Maya shows me that same book she brought last time. The one with the blue-tongued skink on the cover. I note that she doesn’t smell very much like blue-tongued skink today. She sits down on the pillow next to me and Mrs. Christie and starts to read.

I have a hard time keeping my mind on Maya’s book because Maya smells worried. Worried or scared. It’s hard to tell.

“What’s the matter, Maya?” I ask. “Why are you worried? Why are you scared?”

She keeps reading.

“Does it have something to do with the furnace room?” I ask.

Maya turns a page, rubs my back, and keeps on reading.

“Who are Felix, Freckles, and Fluffy? Did you ever find them?” I ask.

Maya doesn’t answer my questions. When she finishes reading, Mrs. Warner says, “You’re the last reader this morning, Maya. Would you like to take Buddy back to the office?”

“Okay,” Maya says.

Maya doesn’t answer my questions when we’re alone in the hall, either. She just pets me and tells me what a good dog I am.

Mom opens the gate and lets me into her office. “Thanks, Maya,” she says, closing the gate behind me.

“You’re welcome,” Maya replies.

Then something very strange happens. Mom goes back to her desk and Maya tiptoes over to that board with all the keys.

She peers over her shoulder, hangs a key on the empty hook, and scurries toward the door.

Ellie wanders into the office as Maya is trying to leave. The two nearly run into each other in the doorway.

“Excuse me, dear,” Ellie says as she scoots around Maya. She stops in front of the gate. “Have you called the locksmith about the furnace room lock yet?” she asks Mom.

“No, I forgot. I’ll do that right now,” Mom says. She reaches for the phone.

“You don’t have to call anyone,” I tell Mom. “The key is back!”

“Shh, Buddy,” Mom says, putting her finger to her mouth. “I’m on the phone.”

I lie down on my pillow and listen as she makes plans for someone to come and open the furnace room door and put in a new lock next Thursday.

I sigh. Nobody ever listens to the dog.

Eleventy-seven minutes later, Mr. Poe strolls into the office. He stops in front of the board with the keys. “Hey, you found the key to the furnace room,” he says.

“No,” Mom says. “But I called a locksmith. They’ll be out next week.”

“The key’s right here,” Mr. Poe says, taking it off the hook.

“Really?” Mom stands up. “That’s strange. Well, I’m glad it’s back. Are you going to check the furnace today?”

“I’ll do it right now,” Mr. Poe says.

I go to the gate. “Can I go with you?” I ask, wagging my tail. I’d really like to see what’s in that furnace room.

Mr. Poe leaves without answering me.

I guess that’s a no.

The good thing about the gate in Mom’s office is I don’t have to be on a leash when I’m in her office. And I don’t have to stay on my pillow. I can sit by the window and see what’s happening on the playground.

I like to watch the birds and the squirrels and the kids at recess. Hey, Maya and Alex are outside. They’re not playing; they’re talking quietly over by that tree. I wonder what they’re talking about. Whatever it is, it looks serious.

I think I’d like to go outside now. I let out a little woof, but Mom doesn’t look up.

I woof again. Louder this time. Then I turn a circle in front of Mom’s desk. That gets her attention.

“Do you need to go outside, Buddy?” she asks.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” I say.

The light above us flickers. Mom squints up at it and sighs. “I guess that light still isn’t fixed,” she says. Then she clips my leash to my collar, moves the gate, and hurries me outside.

Connor is outside, too. He’s talking to some kids on the climbing toy across the playground. But he waves when he sees us.

“Connor?” Mom calls. “Will you bring Buddy to the office when recess is over?”

“Okay,” he says. He slides down the slide and runs toward us.

Mom unhooks my leash and I AM FREE! I give Connor a quick lick, then say, “Sorry, Connor. I can’t play right now.”

I dash across the playground toward Maya and Alex. But Alex is backing away from Maya now.

“What do you think I should do?” Maya cries.

Alex shrugs. “I don’t know,” he says. “You should never have taken them in the first place.”

Taken what?

“This is your problem, not mine,” Alex says. Then he heads off to join a group of kids playing football.

Maya plops down on the grass and leans back against a tree. She looks glum.

I lie down beside her and rest my head on her knee. “What’s the matter, Maya?” I ask.

“Hi, Buddy,” Maya says. She pats my head. “I did something I shouldn’t have done.”

“What?” I ask. “What did you do?”

“First I stole a key from the office,” Maya says. “Then I took it to the hardware store and made a copy of it. Then—I can’t even tell you what I did after that!” She buries her face in her hands.

The bell rings. Maya dries her eyes on her sleeve.

“Buddy?” Connor calls. “Where are you? Ah, there you are! Come here, boy.” He pats his legs.

“I’ll see you later, Buddy,” Maya says as she drags herself to her feet.

What could she possibly have done that would make her feel so bad?

Mr. Poe lumbers into the office right behind Connor and me.

“I hear you’re still having some trouble with that light,” Mr. Poe says.

Connor leads me into Mom’s office, then slides the gate across the doorway. I go lie on my pillow.

Mom sighs. “Yes. I don’t know what the problem could be. The lights aren’t flickering anywhere else in the school. And you’ve already replaced the bulb.”

“Could be a short in the wire. Or,” Mr. Poe’s eyes twinkle. “Maybe we have a ghost.”

Mom scowls. “There’s no such thing as ghosts, Mr. Poe,” she says.

“Are you sure about that?” Mr. Poe asks.

“Please just fix the light,” Mom says.

Hmm. I’ve been worrying so much about that blue-tongued skink and about Maya’s problems that I completely forgot about the ghost! Was a ghost making Mom’s light flicker?

After school, Connor goes over to Mouse’s house again. I’m glad he and Michael are getting to be such good friends. And I’m glad he lets me come along to play with Mouse, even if they go in the house and don’t play with us.

“HAVE YOU CAUGHT THE LIBRARY MONSTER YET?” Mouse asks me.

“No,” I say. “But I found out what it is. It’s a blue-tongued skink, just like Cat said.”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW?” Mouse asks.

“I saw a picture of it in a book that a kid read to me,” I say. “But that’s not the only thing going on at the school right now.”

I tell Mouse about Maya and Alex, and about them going into the furnace room, and what Jazzy overheard about mice, and about Felix, Freckles, and Fluffy being gone, and the fact that Maya did something she shouldn’t have done. I also tell him about the flickering light in Mom’s office.

“I keep finding new mysteries to solve before I can solve all the old mysteries.” I drop to my belly and rest my chin on my paws.

“MAYBE THEY AREN’T ALL NEW MYSTERIES,” Mouse says. “MAYBE THEY’RE ALL PART OF THE SAME MYSTERY, AND YOU JUST HAVE TO FIND OUT HOW THOSE MYSTERIES FIT TOGETHER.”

“I don’t know,” I say. “What does a blue-tongued skink have to do with a flickering light?”

“MAYBE NOTHING,” Mouse says. “BUT MAYBE SOMETHING.”

“And what does Maya sneaking into the furnace room have to do with the missing Felix, Freckles, and Fluffy?” I ask.

“MAYBE NOTHING,” Mouse says. “BUT MAYBE SOMETHING.”

“It would help if I knew who Felix, Freckles, and Fluffy were,” I say.

“OR WHAT THEY WERE,” Mouse puts in.

What could they be? Humans? Animals? Aliens from outer space?

“Jazzy overheard Maya and Alex talking about baby mice. Maybe Felix, Freckles, and Fluffy are mice?” I say.

“MAYBE,” Mouse says.

Bob, the Reptile Guy was missing some mice. Did Maya take them? Is that what she meant when she said she did something she shouldn’t have done? Did she steal the mice? Did she hide them in the furnace room?

Then I remember something Maya read in that book. Something that makes my fur stand straight up.
Blue-tongued skinks EAT mice.
And there’s a blue-tongued skink in our school!

“YOU HAVE TO FIND BLUE TONGUE, BUDDY,” Mouse says. “YOU HAVE TO FIND HIM BEFORE HE EATS FELIX, FRECKLES, AND FLUFFY.”

“I know,” I say. “But how can I do that when there’s a gate in Mom’s office?”

“CAN YOU JUMP OVER THE GATE?” Mouse asks.

“Maybe,” I say. “But Mom will chase me. The whole school will probably chase me.”

“THEN YOU’LL HAVE TO FIND BLUE TONGUE BEFORE THEY CATCH YOU,” Mouse says.

Where could Blue Tongue be?

I’ve seen him in the library. I’ve seen pieces of his skin in the hall by the main door. But that doesn’t mean I’ll find him in the library or the hall.

Where would
I
go if I were loose in a school? I’d go where the food is: the lunchroom.

But Blue Tongue is a reptile. He might go someplace different.

I think back over everything I know about blue-tongued skinks. Maybe I know something that will help me find him. Here is what I know:

Their skin comes off in little pieces.

They like to hide.